Clumping animal litters are typically provided in the form of discrete plural particles. The particles tend to agglomerate into solid masses or clumps when wetted by a liquid waste such as animal urine. A number of such clumping litters are known. One advantage of such clumping litters is that the solid clumps, which are formed upon wetting of the litter, can be separately removed as discrete entities from the remaining litter. The clumped litter can be discarded by the animal owner, leaving behind a quantity of relatively uncontaminated litter for future use. Animal owners, particularly owners of house cats, often find the clumping property of such litters to be convenient for periodic cleaning of the animal litter box. Ammonia-masking properties also are desirable in animal litters because ammonia, a breakdown product of the urea found in animal urine, is a significant factor that contributes to the undesirable odor of animal waste. Some known animal litters have good ammonia-masking properties.
Many clumping animal litters are made from clays and other mineral substrates. Such litters typically include particles of a mineral substrate, which substrate functions as an absorbent and/or odor reducer. The particles may be coated with a liquid-activated adhesive material, such as gelatinized starch, on the surfaces of the particles. When wetted, the adhesive material is activated and causes the discrete litter particles to agglomerate into clumps.
Although clay-based litters may be functional as clumping animal litters, such litters may have different features and characteristics compared to other materials. For example, one feature of clay litters is the high density of the clay component of the litter. Because of this high density, a relatively heavy mass of litter must be used for a given volume of urine. In addition, the resulting clumps of soiled litter are somewhat heavy, and thus can fracture in the absence of strong interparticle adhesion. Another feature of clay litters is that, because the clay is not biodegradable, the litter cannot be flushed into some sewage systems after use. This may be inconvenient for certain animal owners.
In recognition of these features, animal litters made from biodegradable materials, such as seed hulls or other grain-based materials, have been provided. Such litters are often suitable for disposal by flushing into sewage systems. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,014,947 purports to disclose a grain-based litter made from whole wheat or other ground grains. In recognition of the features inherent in clumping animal litters, biodegradable litters that exhibit a clumping property have undergone development. Like typical clumping clay litters, such litters often comprise discrete particles of a liquid-absorbent substrate having a liquid-activated adhesive coated thereon.
Numerous litters are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,757,638; 7,753,002; 6,868,802; 6,622,658; 6,405,677; 6,216,634; and 6,098,569, as well as U.S. application Ser. No. 13/103,778, all assigned to Grain Processing Corporation of Muscatine, Iowa. These patents provide excellent teachings as to organic, biodegradable litters that, in preferred embodiments, are based exclusively on natural materials. The litters disclosed in these patents have excellent ammonia absorbing properties.
The present application seeks to provide an animal litter that differs from the heretofore described litters.